


Oligoastrocytoma

by JadenKorr



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Light Angst, No Romantic Relationship(s) - Freeform, Platonic LAMP - Freeform, i'll add tags as i go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-06-18 05:37:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15478803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadenKorr/pseuds/JadenKorr
Summary: Something is very wrong in the mindscape. Logan is forgetful, Virgil seems on high alert at all times, Patton's emotions are all out of whack, and Roman can't come up with new ideas. Now it's affecting Thomas as he begins having a series of headaches and fatigue, but can't seem to sleep. As the sides rush to find out what is the cause, Thomas is slowly degrading. They must find the source and fix this problem before it is too late.





	1. Arachnophobia

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place sometime between the Christmas Sanders sides video and the third Reason to Smile video from March of this year. Also, this chapter is completely from Logan's POV, but future chapters will be from other character's perspectives, and the last few chapters will alternate between perspectives. Enjoy!!

Logan sat in the living room with Thomas, discussing the plan for Thomas’ next video. He would have preferred the kitchen table, as it provided a slightly more professional setting and would have encouraged Thomas to focus more, but Thomas insisted on the couch, evidently attempting to get his logical side to relax. The idea for the future video Roman had put forth would require a fair amount of research and planning, and if Thomas did not have a clear schedule, this video would not be finished on time. Logan appreciated the new format Thomas had for working on videos: an overall discussion of the idea and general plan with everyone, then individual “sessions” where each of them gave their input to Thomas on how to tackle it. Roman was to give Thomas ideas for how to make the video its best, which Logan had interpreted to signify deciding what the costumes looked like, which friends would be involved, who would play what parts, and when and where to film. However, Roman usually also ended up adding more lines, scenes and drama to the original plan. Logan’s session followed after Roman’s, and typically began with Logan having to filter out any unnecessary additions Roman might’ve put in. Then he proceeded to formulate Thomas’ schedule and aid in any necessary research. Patton came next; he ensured the video sent the right message, nothing was misinterpreted, and no one’s feelings would be hurt. Virgil would usually have his time with Thomas after the video had been filmed, helping with the editing process and making sure the video went up on time.  A faint smile pulled at the corner of Logan's mouth as he thought about how fluidly the past few videos had gone since his plan was put in place. Well, it wasn’t completely his plan; Patton had stated they needed to ensure everyone was providing a fair amount of input in each video, and Virgil liked the concept of working individually with Thomas, so Logan had suggested these “sessions”. Roman begrudgingly agreed; Logan knew he liked the idea, but was disappointed he hadn’t been the one to come up with it.

“So what do you think?” Thomas’ voice snapped Logan out of his current train of thought.

“Oh,” Logan cleared his throat and glanced at the laptop Thomas was holding. They had decided to do another _Reasons to Smile_ video, and Thomas had outlined several facts he wanted to insert into the video. “Uh yes, these will do quite nicely, though I recommend keeping the sources you found this information from and including them in the description of the video. We wouldn’t want any confusion on the accuracy of your information.”

“Still citing works and doing research even though I’ve been out of school for years.” Thomas chuckled.

“Yes, do not remind me.” While Logan knew that this lifestyle was what Thomas had wanted, to some degree he still hoped Thomas would eventually return to study for a doctorate. However, of all the positions in the entertainment industry, Thomas had chosen one with a significant amount of research still involved, and ultimately it made Thomas happy, so Logan could admit that it was satisfactory for him. He straightened his glasses and looked over the page once more. “Also, on your statement about the pesticides should include the all-natural ingredients that prevent the substance from being harmful to bees.”

Thomas ran his hand through his hair out of habit. “Yeah, I was going to do that, but…”

“But?” Logan questioned when Thomas did not continue.

Thomas grinned sheepishly. “One of the ingredients is spider venom.”

For just a moment, Logan opened his mouth to question how that was relevant before realization dawned on him. “Thomas, are you implying that you would like to leave out pertinent information solely because you do not wish to give spiders credit for being beneficial to the Earth?”

Thomas shrugged innocently. “Maybe…”

Logan sighed, pushing his glasses out of the way as he rubbed his forehead. “Thomas, you cannot remove relevant facts simply because of your… your…”

Thomas’ brow furrowed in concern. “Logan?”

“Apologies, I… I seem to be unable to come up with the scientific term for having a fear of spiders.” Logan pressed his fingers to his forehead as if that would extract the information he needed.

“Oh! It’s- uh, well…” Thomas shook his head with a small smile. “I guess if you can’t come up with it, neither can I.”

Logan squared his shoulders, refusing to let his inability to come up with a word he had used numerous times in his life deter him. “Regardless, you should include all of the information we collected on the pesticide.”

Thomas held his hands up submissively. “Alright, alright, I will.”

“Excellent. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some of my own work to attend to. Shall I fetch Patton for you, or would you like to summon him yourself?”

Thomas waved a hand dismissively. “Nah, I’ll get him in a minute. Thanks, Logan.”

“Of course.” With a quick nod, Logan sunk out of Thomas’ living area and into his own room in the mindscape.

Logan’s room was an excellent representation of himself. The four cobalt blue walls that formulated his room contained nothing more than the bare necessities with a few exceptions. The only window in his room was located on the back wall, opposite his door, allowing ample light into the room. His black desk sat up against the window, currently nothing on it except a desk lamp for late night projects, a pencil cup, and a coffee mug that said, **false·hood** (noun) the state of being untrue, a lie, lying . Roman had gotten him that for his “birthday”, which in actuality was simply the first time Thomas ever demonstrated his teacher character, but that’s what all the sides claimed as their birthdays. Roman had boasted that this mug was perfect for the logical aspect, declaring he’d never find a more fitting mug if he looked for a million years. While Logan had rolled his eyes at Roman’s statement and gift when he first received it, he had become rather partial to it, and Roman hadn’t failed to notice it was the cup Logan used more often than any other. Logan’s bed sat centered against the left wall with the mattress covered in a tessellation geometric pattern of many shades of blue, one of which perfectly matched the frame of the picture that stood on his small nightstand. Other than the alarm clock, the picture was the only item on the stand. The picture displayed an image of all four sides, donning their Harry Potter garments right after the Harry Potter video had been published. Somehow, Patton had gotten both him and Virgil to smile- a little, at least- for the picture. Patton had four personalized versions of the picture made and planned to give each of them one for their birthdays. Patton had made Logan’s with a semi-dark blue frame and signed it, “No matter the Hogwarts house, we’re all famILY in this home.” The wall opposite the window that held Logan’s blue-grey door had only one piece of furniture: a black dresser with the book he was currently reading, “ _And then there were none”,_ by Agatha Christie, and his stack of flashcards Virgil had given him. In addition to slang vocabulary words, Virgil had also written out several action-oriented trends like the dab (although Logan clearly already knew that one) and given him those for his birthday with the promise to add to it periodically. He had even attempted to make his handwriting neater in comparison to his usual nervous scrawling. All in all, Logan had greatly appreciated the thought, time and effort Virgil had put into his gift. He was really becoming part of the group. Logan's last wall was completely obscured by a sizeable mahogany bookshelf, spanning the full area of the wall both in height and width. This bookshelf held every bit of knowledge Thomas has ever retained, from the facts Thomas had learned in school to the memories of Thomas with his friends and family and- the current focus of Logan's attention- words of the English language.

Logan approached the bookshelf, then stopped and narrowed his eyes at what he saw. The bookshelf, which was usually full to the brim with books, had several slots where instead of a book, some unfamiliar black mass had taken its stead. The masses appeared visibly smooth and somewhat bulbous. Small streaks of grey swirled around very slowly inside, and the form seemed to be slightly luminous, the light glowing and retreating at a slow steady pace, almost like a slow heartbeat. They all seemed to move in sync, as if they were one solid mass. The books that should have been where the mass- or masses- was were nowhere to be found. Not on the ground in front of the bookshelf, nor anywhere else in the room. It almost appeared as though this foreign object has engulfed the books themselves, though there was no way to know for sure without further investigation, and Logan was not about to physically touch an unknown material that had invaded his room. Logan took a quick count of the books missing and ran the numbers in his head: approximately 3% of his- and consequently Thomas'- knowledge was gone. Logan frowned. This was concerning, but not significant enough to worry the others. Not yet, at least. Logan walked to his desk and pulled out some notebook paper from the top drawer and snatched up a pencil. He would spend as much time as he could carefully observing this new dilemma and watching for any changes, working to find a solution.


	2. Insomnia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil's turn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Anxiety attack (mentioned), a bit of a scare, but not an attack itself

Virgil turned off Tumblr and stretched on the couch in the mindscape. Virgil wasn’t exactly sure what time it was, but it was late enough everyone else had gone to bed. The day had been pretty busy; the other sides had spent their time with Thomas helping his plan the next video, the third _Reasons to Smile_ . Despite what people might think, Virgil really liked these videos. They didn’t require leaving the house, all of the talking was reading facts or talking about something positive in a casual manner instead of scripts and acting dialogue, so there were far less mistakes during filming and much less editing work. Not to mention it kinda forced Virgil to focus on positives for a few days, and there was far less pressure in getting one of these videos out, so yeah, Virgil enjoyed them. Virgil had listened in on a few of the group discussions, but he’d mostly left his input for when editing rolled around. Patton had been so excited to find pictures of a bunch of cute animals for Thomas, he’d practically bounced around the mindscape the whole day. Logan retreated to his room after his session with Thomas and hadn’t come out since except for mandatory ‘family’ dinner, which he quickly finished and excused himself from the table, saying he still had a lot of research to do for this video. Which is generally true, Logan had to put more into the _Reasons to Smile_ videos than the rest but still, he didn’t usually need _this_ much time after his talk with Thomas. Virgil decided to leave him alone for now, but made a mental note to check in on him if he kept this up for too long. Roman left for the Imagination as soon as dinner was over, saying he had already had his time with Thomas for this video and since acting was not needed, he would spend the next two or three days (probably longer, knowing Roman) adventuring in his Imagination realm to boost his creativity for the next big idea for Thomas’ next video. Virgil didn’t mind; it meant the common area of the mindscape would be a lot quieter for the next few days, but if he was gone for too long, either he or Logan would have to go in there and fetch him, and neither of the two really enjoyed doing so. Logan found the realm’s lack of reality draining, and often returned irritable and annoyed. Virgil didn’t like the constant danger Roman seemed to love adding to his adventures, and while they couldn’t suffer any permanent damage in the Imagination, as everything reset when they returned, everything felt very much real whilst inside. They’d tried sending Patton once, who was more than willing to go, but quickly realized Patton was too easily distracted and usually ended up following some stray dog or talking with every vendor, traveler and side character he found. Virgil thought it reminded him of how Thomas would play all the needless side quests on open world video games rather than the main objective.

Deciding it was late enough that he should probably to go bed to at least _try_ and get a few hours of sleep so Patton or Logan didn’t lecture him in the morning, Virgil dragged himself off the couch and shuffled upstairs to his room. He passed Logan’s and Patton’s doors, which were on either side of the hallway. Glancing to his left, he saw a soft light coming from under Logan’s door. He leaned up against the wood and listened intently. He heard no scratching of the pen on paper or shuffling of pages that could be heard when Logan had his nose in a book. Good, that meant he’d either actually gone to bed and left the light on, or fell asleep at his desk after spending hours on some new research. Either way, opening the door to check meant risking waking the logical side, and Virgil would rather let him get some sleep without interruption. He didn’t need to look to his right to know Patton was already in deep sleep. Patton always kept his door slightly ajar, a visual reminder that “my door is always open, kiddo.” He’d said that to all of them at one point or the other, and he didn’t want them to forget. He glanced inside and sure enough, Patton lay sprawled across his bed, fast asleep. Patton was far more of a morning person than the rest of them, and he usually made breakfast for the bunch, meaning he was often the first to sleep at night.

As he neared his door, he grew more uncomfortable. Something just… didn’t feel right. It wasn’t his room itself; while his room did cause the others to become increasingly anxious, for him it was grounding. He always kept him room dark and quiet, which helped during more severe anxiety attacks and prevented him from a sensory overload. He’d done that on purpose, choosing dark color schemes, minimal light, and lots of soft fabrics for the bed, curtains and rugs to absorb as much sound as possible. Logan had gone into detail on how sounds could best be absorbed, and after coming into his room the first time, he had recommended a few materials for Virgil that would work better. Virgil had taken him up on all of them, and it had helped more than he’d expected, certainly more than he’d ever admit to Logan. Virgil had also switched out his old spider curtains for thicker, solid purple curtains that better matched his drapes. He claimed this was to help block out more light and sound, but everyone knew it was so Patton wouldn’t be as uncomfortable whenever he came in to check on his dark strange son, though no one said it aloud.

Virgil silently pushed his door open. Nothing seemed to be out of place as he scanned the incredibly dark room, eyes watching for movement or shifting shadows. After seeing nothing for several minutes, Virgil hesitantly accepted that nothing was wrong and he must just be on edge. He cautiously crept over to his bed, which he kept in the back right corner facing his door, so he could always see if someone- or something- tried to enter. He didn’t bother to do anything more than snap himself into pyjamas before he climbed under the weighted blanket and plugged his phone in, turning on some music quietly and slipping his headphones on. He sighed, trying to ignore the fact that his nerves had not settled any more even with the music. He rolled over, trying to steady his breathing, desperately hoping he’d get to sleep eventually.

______________________________

Virgil’s eyes sprang open as he launched upwards in bed. Sitting bolt upright, he threw the blanket off him and pulled his headphones away, trying to remove anything that felt constricting as if it would squeeze out his last breath at any second. He panted as the moment of pure panic passed and gathered himself. He didn’t even know or remember what caused the panic; did he have a nightmare? He took a few deep breaths and glanced around the room. Light was emanating from his window, penetrating the small gap he’d left in the drapes when he didn’t close them all the way yesterday afternoon. That meant it was well into the morning. His still mostly dark room seemed the same, except something was off about his dark grey wall-

Wait, what?

Virgil froze, staring at the wall. Unlike the rest of his magenta walls, the wall furthest from his was a dark greyish black. In fact, looking at it closer, he realized it wasn’t his wall at all. It was a different texture, smooth but not flat, and it stuck out six inches further into the room than his wall should. Inside it, weird glittering strips of grey moved around very slowly. It was completely empty, that’s when Virgil realized with a jolt that his Jack and Sally posters were gone. He glanced around on the floor, but they were nowhere to be seen. Had this… thing swallowed them, or disintegrated them, or-

He cut himself off, knowing that train of thought would only lead him to a downward spiral of endless nervous questions that would never be answered if he didn’t do something. Looking around, he grabbed his Funko Pop Jack and threw it at the mass. It bounced off harmlessly, and the mass didn’t seem to move or change at all. Slightly more confident, Virgil slid off the bed and inched closer. Despite the stillness of this… thing, Virgil was sure it was the cause of his uneasiness and restless sleep. Even now, just thinking about it made him shudder. He caught himself breathing too quickly. Trying to prevent a second outbreak of fear, Virgil turned, snatched his phone and headphones off the bed and rushed out of his room, grabbing his hoodie off the door hanger on the way out. He spun around and closed the door, trying not to be too loud. He breathed a deep sigh of relief at just being out of the presence of that… whatever it was. Taking another minute to collect himself, he slid on his hoodie and pocketed his phone before heading towards the stairs.

“Heya, kiddo!” Patton beamed at him from the kitchen sink, washing the last of the dishes. “How’d ya sleep?”

Virgil glanced at the clock on the microwave that displayed ‘11:50’. Virgil thought about getting coffee anyway, but he was already pretty thoroughly awake after that scare. Realizing he still hadn’t answered Patton, he shrugged. “Could’ve been worse.” He tried to be positive without lying; he wasn’t sure if he should tell the others about that thing on his wall yet.

“Well, let’s make your morning a little better!” Patton grinned. “Do you want pancakes, fruit, toast, coffee, or all of the above?” Patton dried his hands and looked at Virgil expectantly.

“It’s almost lunch, and I don’t want to make more dishes for y-”

“No, no.” Patton wagged his finger at Virgil, a loving smile replaced the goofy grin. “Breakfast is the most important meal of all, and you need to eat something before you get started on the day!” His voice was soft, but there was a hint of authoritative insistence behind it. Patton wouldn’t budge on this one. Virgil looked to Logan for help, but the logical side sat in the living room, writing furiously on a notepad, completely oblivious to their conversation.

Virgil smiled. “Ok, Pat. Toast would be nice.”

Patton clapped his hands excitedly. “You got it, kiddo!”

Virgil grabbed a cup of orange juice and sat at the table. He didn’t need to tell then about that thing in his room, not yet, at least. There’s nothing they could do about it anyway, and it would only upset Patton that he couldn’t help. Besides, he felt a lot better now that he was out of there. Maybe it would go away on its own. Virgil knew that was extremely hopeful thinking, especially for him, but it’s not like there’s much else he could do. For now, he’d stay out of his room as much as possible and try not to expect the worst. He may be sleeping on the couch for awhile, if he slept at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm not totally satisfied with this chapter, but I've got a lot going on right now and I'm doing my best to keep a consistent schedule. Also, I didn't go into as much detail on Virgil's room since we've already (sorta) seen it in Thomas' videos. Chapter three should go up either Tuesday or Wednesday! Comments/critiques appreciated!


	3. Nonextant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman returns from the Imagination... but not everything is as it seems.

Roman burst through the Imagination back into his own room with a grand gesture, even though no one was there to witness his finesse. He beamed a confident smile as he gazed around his room pleasantly. Roman’s room was incredibly… extra, as Logan would put it. He changed his room regularly; by the time one season had come and gone, everything in Roman’s room would be completely different. He explained to the others it was a way to keep his creativity flowing, fuel his imagination and encourage new ideas and concepts. Currently, blood red sheets made of the finest silk flowed across his king size bed without so much as a single wrinkle. Pure white pillows filled with the softest feathers greeted the top of the bed, all of which was beautifully encompassed by a golden canopy bed frame with a vine pattern carved into the pillars. Instead of a closet, Roman had a large wardrobe that was designed to look like the one from Narnia, but was wider and had two doors. The wood was tinted a shade darker as well, and Roman had created it to be bigger on the inside. Logan and Virgil had immediately connected that concept to Doctor Who, but Roman insisted he was keeping with the Narnian theme, not  _ daring  _ to be associated with anything so nerdy. The walls were a canvas; rather than being a solid color or pattern, Roman always designed them to look like a scene. He loved that it made the room appear much larger than it actually was, despite the fact that Roman already had the largest room of the four. Currently, Roman had the walls looking like a serene forest at dawn, with an image of a river painted into the wall opposite his window so it caught the light just right. The only item covering that beautiful wall was his full length mirror. The shimmering gold frame held dozens of small lights strung around the entirety of the mirror, making it appear as though his reflection was encompassed by fairydust. His broad desk was the same color and texture of the wardrobe, with a vintage gold-colored desk lamp set atop and a quill pen and ink set next to the blank stationary under the glowing light. Roman dashed over and set himself down in the tall wooden chair with plum colored cushions, snatching up the quill and gently dipping it in the ink. Roman had been on an adventure for a little over two days, and in the process had come up with several new ideas for Thomas’ next videos. Roman felt incredibly proud of himself; not only were these ideas absolutely  _ fabulous _ , but he had come back with more ideas than he had expected and in almost the exact amount of time he told the others he would be gone. He quickly began the process of writing down every idea had fabricated whilst in the Imagination before he could forget them. 

After a several minutes of swift scribbling, Roman abruptly stopped, tensing up. Something was wrong; there was a chill in his room. He hadn’t noticed it when he first came in with all of his excitement, but it was definitely there. He set the quill down in the ink and stood up, surveying the room. Nothing seemed out of place. Frowning in confusion, Roman stode across the room to his bed, looking for anything odd. He bent over and peered underneath, feeling childish looking under his bed for monsters, but there wasn’t much else place for something to hide. Still seeing nothing, Roman stood biting his inner lip as he pondered the situation. He noticed the chill had lessen now that he was over by his bed, meaning the source must be near his desk somewhere. He crossed the room again, bending down check the underneath of his desk. Nothing. He stood up and pulled his desk away from the wall to look behind it. ...And nearly fell over backwards as he recoiled from the sight that beheld him. Some evil creature had attached itself to Roman’s desk. The dark, sticky being had been stretched upon Roman’s moving of the desk, and now resembled incredibly thick but stretched out putty, except moving every so slightly. If it hadn’t been for the chill in the room, Roman would have thought this was a poor attempt on Virgil’s part to pull a prank by gluing his desk in place when Roman inevitably tried to change the furniture again. Roman crossed his arms in deep thought. It didn’t seem to be doing anything… was it harmless? No, it couldn’t be, if the chill in the room was anything to go by, but he didn’t know what it was. Could he touch it? What happened if he tried? He couldn’t just leave it, he was the knight, the prince! He had to take action against this... this fiend! Standing up, Roman drew his sword as he stared down his opponent and raised it over his head for a strike. Then his eyes trailed over to the desk the beast was connected to. The color had begun to drain from the edges of the desk where his adversary had attached to it, spreading far enough across the desk that it went under his papers-

No. It was draining his papers too. Roman watched in abject horror as all of the ideas he had written out vanished from the pages, as if they were never there in the first place.

“No, no, NO!” Roman jumped towards the desk and knocked the papers away from the desk and onto the floor, but the damage was already done. Every single sheet was completely blank, every idea gone as if he’d never written it at all. There was no way he’d remember every idea with as much detail as he’d just put in to those notes. Roman turned from the mess on the floor to the creature. “You monster! I shall avenge my precious work!” He raised the sword a second time and swung hard.

The sword sunk into the mass with a thud. It didn’t go very deep, much to Roman’s disappointment, and when he withdrew the sword, the mass looked the same as it had before. It reminded Roman of that cornstarch and water experiment Thomas had done in school; it looked solid when he hit it, but as soon as he removed the sword any dent was immediately filled in.

Roman glared at it in frustration and confusion. He sheathed his sword and moved everything off his desk, setting the lamp, quill ink and remaining papers on the floor far away from the monstrosity that had taken over his desk.

A knock at his door made him jump nearly out of his skin. “Roman?”

Roman whirled around, instinctively keeping himself between the desk and the door. “Ah, Patton!” He acknowledged the father figure’s voice.

Sure enough, Patton’s head was peaking through Roman’s door. “You’re back!” He clapped his hands in delight.

Roman put his acting skills to use. He stood up straight, squared his shoulders and stuck out his chest as he donned his signature beaming smile and gestured with his traditional pose he used whenever he sank in or out of a video. “Of course I am, Padre! I said I would be!”

Patton grinned. “Oh, I know. It’s just sometimes you’re adventures take longer than that. Which is fine!” He quickly added. “I’m just glad you’re back now; we’re going to have a family dinner and movie night.”

A puzzled look came over Roman’s expression. “It’s not Friday, is it?”

Patton’s smile faltered a little. “No, but the other two have been… needing a break, so we’re going to give it to them!” Patton’s enthusiasm came back in full force.

Roman’s face lit up. His friends needed his help, and he would be there to give it! He strode confidently over to Patton. “That we will, Padre! That we will, indeed!” He proclaimed as he slung his arm around Patton and walked him downstairs away from his room and the evil that lay inside. He couldn’t help but think about how that thing had erased all his wonderful ideas; he thought about writing them down during movie night, but as he thought on it he realized he could not remember his ideas almost at all anymore. It was as if they were receding from his memory like a dream after waking up, leaving a gap in his thoughts. He wouldn’t tell the others about it; apparently, they had enough going on right now. Besides, what would the others think if he couldn’t defeat a slime ball by himself? No, he’d figure this out on his own. He just needed more time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so! I've been working on four as much as I can to bulk up, but I'm about to be out of town for the next five days and my internet will not be reliable. I will try to finish the writing when I can and hopefully post it Friday or Saturday, but there's a chance it won't be up until Sunday depending on circumstance. Sorry guys!  
> As always, let me know what you think! Comments are always appreciated!


	4. Apathetic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton hates to see his family struggle, and he's determined to do whatever he can to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm uploading from my phone this time, so I hope everything looks right, but I got it done!

Patton wasn’t mad, just… frustrated. Something was wrong with his family, and he couldn’t figure out what. Logan had barely come out of his room since his day with Thomas. He reluctantly sat through Patton’s mandatory movie night before quickly rushing back to his work, and anytime he was out of room- which now was only when Patton dragged him down for meals- he was grumpy and had even snapped at both Roman and Virgil on separate occasions. Virgil, on the other hand, was never in his room anymore. At first, Patton was thrilled that Virgil was spending so much time with them, but now he was worried. Patton had come into the common area this morning to start on breakfast and found his precious son curled up tightly in a ball asleep on the couch… for the fourth time this week. Virgil shrugged it off, saying it was nothing and that he just fell asleep scrolling through Tumblr. When Patton had asked how much sleep Virgil got he deflected, but the bags under his bloodshot eyes were much darker than usual. Patton knew something was wrong, but Virgil wouldn’t open up to him, and Patton didn’t want to push too hard or he might close himself off even more. Roman seemed alright when he first got back, but as the week went on Patton could tell he was growing more frustrated, despite the act he tried to hide behind. He had said the Imagination gave him many good ideas the night he returned, but when Logan had asked for specifics, Roman deflected, and since then he hadn’t given Thomas a single notion for any of his projects. Now he was spending more and more time in his room too.

Not very many things could keep Patton awake at night, but he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t spent a good chunk of time in bed last night trying to figure out how to help his family. Now he watched in silent sadness as Logan briskly walked into the kitchen, grabbed his breakfast plate from the table and took it back upstairs with barely a greeting. Patton sighed quietly before convincing himself to try and at least enjoy his time with his other two kiddos. He glanced at the table from where he stood at the stove and saw Roman sitting unnervingly still, fork in hand, practically glaring at his food in deep, frustrated thought. Virgil had his hoodie wrapped around him as tightly as possible and was fidgeting with his sleeves, staring at the table with a concentrated look of fear etched onto his face. A look of determination set in on Patton’s expression. Before breakfast was over, he would at least have put a smile on their faces. He turned the stove off, removed his apron, and sat down in his typical spot with a plate of food.

“Alright, kiddos! What can we do to make today extra paw-some!” He held up his hands to gesture to the cat onesie he was still wearing, plastering a smile on his face. 

“Actually Patton,” Roman kept his eyes on his plate, setting his fork down and pushing his chair out. “I think today I need to spend in the Imagination.” Roman turned to grin at Patton, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I need some better ideas for Thomas.”

Patton failed to keep the happiness on his face. “Roman, you were there only a few days ago, besides, I’m sure you’re ideas were fantastic!”

Something in that statement must have hit Roman hard, because the next thing Patton knew, Roman’s smiled had completely vanished, replaced with something that resembled… defeat? It was very unfitting for Roman. Roman sighed. “Maybe they  _ were _ , Pat, but I need to be sure.” Patton frowned and tilted his head in confusion, not sure what Roman meant by that, but before he could ask Roman was smiling again. “I’ll only be gone for a short while, I promise. I’ll be back sometime tomorrow.” Without waiting for a response, Roman stood and quickly made his way upstairs towards his room. 

Patton forced his positivity to remain as he turned to Virgil. “Well Virge, I guess it’s just you and me today! Wanna have a movie day?” Virgil didn’t react, still fidgeting with the hem of his sleeve while his eyes darted back and forth ever so slightly, as if a million things were running through his brain as fast as possible. Virgil hadn't even bothered to tell Patton how dangerous it was to cook in his cat onesie pajamas. His breathing was shallow, but he wasn’t hyperventilating...yet. Patton reached over carefully, his hand stopping just short of Virgil. “Virgil?” He repeated softly.

Virgil gasped and recoiled as he snapped out of whatever train of thought held him captive. Patton pulled back to give him his space. “Oh, I- uh, s-sorry Patton. What’d you say?”

“I asked if you wanted to have a movie day, kiddo.” Patton said as tenderly as he could.

Virgil visibly relaxed as he processed what was said. The tension in his expression drained away and he smiled slightly at Patton. “Sure, Pat. That sounds good.” 

Patton’s face lit up. “Great! I’ll clean up breakfast and go get my cardigan while you pick out the first movie!” Patton launched up and cleared the remains of breakfast as fast as he could, then dashed upstairs to get dressed, beaming at Virgil’s little smirk as he ran past. Patton quickly closed his door and squealed as he  jumped up and down, no longer even trying to hide his excitement. He couldn’t fix everything, but this was a start. He ran over to his dresser and threw open the top drawer to grab his favorite cardigan. His eyes drifted up a little to the trinkets and keepsakes he kept on top of his dresser. He loved looking at each one and remembering the story behind it. 

His gaze fell on a small ball that was pressed up against the wall, looking partially squished and not perfectly round anymore. It was very pretty. Near black with little wisps of grey and glittery sparkles inside. He tilted his head in curiosity; he didn’t remember this ball at all. Sometimes he forgets about something until he sees it again, but Patton almost never forgets where an object from his room came from. Patton reached out to hold it, cardigan completely forgotten, but when he touched it he felt this odd… draining sensation. He became deathly still, not breathing or blinking. He wasn’t sure if his blood was pumping anymore, but he became ice cold in a matter of seconds. He took his hand off the ball slowly and looked at him palm blankly. He felt numb, both physically and emotionally. He wasn’t frightened or happy or angry or nervous or…  _ anything _ . No longer curious, he turned away from the ball and tied his cardigan around his shoulders before exiting his room and closing the door. 

He came down the stairs, his movements stiff and robotic, far more so than Logan ever was or claimed to be. He stopped at the bottom step, looking around until he laid eyes on Virgil. “Hey, Pat. You ready?” Virgil called, seeing him out of the corner of his eye as he operated the DVD player. Patton walked stiffly to the couch and sat a few spaces away from Virgil, shoulders squared and head perfectly horizontal with the floor. “I was thinking- if you’re okay with it- that we could start with  _ Fantasia _ , and then maybe  _ Nightmare before Christmas _ ? If you want to, I mean.” Virgil added quickly when Patton hadn’t responded. Patton’s silence convinced Virgil to turn around from his position over the player. “Patton?” Patton stared at him a minute longer, unmoving. Virgil moved to sit next to him. “You okay?”

Patton’s dull eyes finally lit up after another unnerving span of silence. “Oh. Oh! Yeah, I’m fine, kiddo! I just- I was just thinking… for a minute. Sorry about that!” The rest of Patton’s face began to shine with the same joy his eyes did as all of his many, amyn feelings flooded back to him.

Virgil didn’t seem convinced. “Are you sure?” He asked cautiously. “We don’t have to-”

“No, no! I’m sure! I love  _ Fantasia _ , and I’m ready to spend some time with you, Virgil! I’m just-” He sighed. “I guess I’m worrying about Logan and Roman more than I realize.”

Virgil didn’t seem to fully buy that either, but he let it go. “Okay, well… you let me do the worrying, okay? It’s my job anyhow. Besides, I think the movies might help take your mind off that.” 

“Yeah! I think it’ll do us good!” Patton’s peppiness was quick to come back the his demeanour.

Virgil hit play on the movie. Patton sat close enough that he could give Virgil a comforting squeeze on the arm or hand on his shoulder, but far enough away to give Virgil some space. Virgil seemed to appreciate that, inching closer when he was ready. Patton grinned. He might not be able to give Roman ideas, or help Logan’s research, but he could comfort Virgil. He could solve this problem right here in front of him now, and then, he would do whatever it takes to help Logan and Roman next.


	5. Insincerity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brief anxiety attack, a few semi-harsh words (No cussing). Keepin’ it ‘G’

Something was very wrong. Now Virgil was always one to worry, he knew that, but this time he had good reason. In the last several days since his and Patton’s movie day, Patton had had several moments where he was just… absent. Not physically, he was still right in front of Virgil, but it was like his emotions were just… gone. He rarely talked when this happened, and when he did it was completely monotone and without any puns, which was scarier than anything else. This wasn’t like when Logan claimed to be emotionless, which he most definitely wasn’t, when Patton had these episodes, he was cold and uncaring. The first time it had happened had been the easiest to deal with: it was short and Patton looked blank, but didn’t say or do anything rash or harsh. Since then, it had gotten progressively difficult to deal with Patton during one of these as he had nearly hurt himself or others several times. During one of these moments Patton had nearly burned himself halfway through cooking and in another one he’d made a very offhanded comment to Virgil, which he tried incredibly hard- and failed- not to take personally. Logan and Roman wouldn’t so much as let him finish explaining what they had failed to notice about their beloved father figure figment since they were too busy, and for once Virgil’s frustration nearly nearly outgrew his anxiety. He did everything he could not to lose it on the other two- after all, Patton was trying to get through to them when he wasn’t having an episode- but it was getting harder and harder. 

He thought about bringing it up to Thomas, but he was nearly done with the editing and was already anxious enough as it was. Virgil had to admit that was at least partially his fault; his anxiety was through the roof with that mass in his room- which was now sticking out two and a half feet from the wall- and all of the chaos happening in the mindscape, not to mention Thomas’ video needed to go up tomorrow if he was to keep his schedule. Besides, Thomas was spending most of his time in his house alone, so if he was being affected by the others’ weird behavior, no one would know until at least tomorrow, and they could address it then,  _ after  _ the video went up. Virgil was pacing nervously in the commons- it seemed to be all he did anymore- when he felt a tug from Thomas. Suddenly, he was pulled into Thomas’ living room, who had the laptop in his lap and an annoyed look on his face as he stared up at Virgil. 

“Could you  _ please _ calm down, Virge?” He snapped. “This is not something you should even be worrying over!” Thomas gestured to the nearly finished project his laptop currently displayed.

Virgil ran his hands through his hair before pulling his hood up. “Sorry.” He mumbled, not making eye contact.

Thomas sighed. “I- me too. I didn’t mean to snap, Virgil, I just- I don’t know why I’m so frustrated and anxious when there’s no reason for it! I mean, I thought you  _ liked  _ these videos?”

“I do! It's-” 

Thomas cut Virgil off unintentionally. "I mean it doesn’t help that I’ve not been sleeping and I have these constant headaches, but I don’t know if the headaches are causing the lack of sleep of the lack of sleep is causing the headaches, or-” Thomas stopped, realizing he was working up Virgil- and thus himself- and cut himself off. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’ll talk to Remy and see why he’s avoiding you.” Virgil chuckled, though it was half-hearted at best.

Before Thomas could respond, a sharp knock caused both to jerk their heads towards the door. Virgil looked back at Thomas. “You expecting anyone?”

Thomas thought for a minute. “No?” Thomas stood up to get the door and Virgil sunk out so as not to be seen by whoever stood on the other side of the door. Thomas cracked the door at first, a little hesitant, and saw Joan and Talyn beaming back at him.

“Hey Thomas, we were beginning to think you were ignoring us.” Joan said as they both pushed past him and walked into the hall. “You ready?”

Inside the mindscape, Virgil felt cold panic run through his veins. Ready? Ready for what? What had they forgotten? Would Joan be mad? Would Talyn? What if it was something important? “Logan!”

Virgil was almost surprised when he showed up instantly, his shirt wrinkled and his hair tousled and a very unamused look on his face. He regretted not making Logan stop working like he had told himself to; the man looked exhausted. “Yes, Virgil?” He said shortly.

“Why are Joan and Talyn here? What did we forget?” He tried not to snap at Logan, but he was quickly losing control.

Logan sighed and straightened his glasses. “Virgil, calm down, I'm sure-”

"What. Did we. Forget.” Virgil practically growled.

“I-” Logan cleared his throat. “I regret to say that I do not know.”

“Patton! Roman!” Both sides appeared at the call. Patton was mindlessly playing with a marble between his fingers, otherwise standing still while staring uninterestedly at the floor. Roman, on the other hand, couldn't be still to save his life. He rose up without his typical grandiose stance and immediately began fidgeting nervously with his sash, and he wouldn't make eye contact with anyone. He was… nervous? Ashamed? Whatever it was, it was  _ not  _ a good look on Princey. How long had he been like this? In fact, when was the last time Virgil saw him? Of course, Patton didn't look much better. Virgil desperately hoped he was not having another apathetic episode, but judging by the look on his face, he knew better. Virgil shoved all those thoughts down and focused on the initial problem, but after this no one was leaving until they had a long talk. “Anyone know what Joan and Talyn are talking about?”

Patton aimlessly shook his head. Roman kept his eyes on the ground. “No, but that's supposed to be Logan's job!” He suddenly looked up and pointed at Logan. “You're in charge of the schedule, aren't you?”

“I have been incredibly busy with many tasks this week, Roman, and I already checked Thomas’ schedule- nothing is set for today.” Logan's irritation bled into his tone.

“Well, clearly you missed  _ something _ , otherwise they wouldn't be here!” Roman fired back.

Virgil looked desperately at Patton to break up the fight, but he made no move to do so, still playing with the marble in his hand. “Guys, guys!” Virgil put his hands out in an attempt to halt the arguing before it got worse. “What do we say?” They both paused, realizing Thomas had not yet replied, and in real time, it had been a couple of seconds.

Logan straightened his tie. “I suppose we ask.”

“Subtly!” Roman quickly added.

Thomas blinked. “Ready?” He repeated.

Joan looked at Thomas a bit surprised. “It's Valerie’s birthday. Did you forget? You've been the one planning this for so long.”

Just like that, before Virgil knew what was happening, Deceit popped up in the middle of their group, starling them all a bit. “Of course not.” He purred. “We could never forget something so important.”

Virgil scowled. “We're not lying, right Patton?” He turned to look at the embodiment of Morality, who to Virgil's horror simply shrugged carelessly and the lie slipped out of Thomas’ mouth, smooth as butter.

“Of course not.” Thomas laughed as if Joan was only joking. “I could never forget something so important.”

Everyone- Deceit included- gaped at Patton. Deceit, however, quickly regained his smooth sneer. “Well, that wasn't easier than I thought possible.” He gloated in his traditional backwards talk.

“Wha-” Logan tried to gain some composure as his brain moved faster than he did. “W-what just happened?” He looked from Deceit to Patton, as did Roman.

“Well, maybe if you’d been around a little bit this week, you would’ve noticed this sooner.” Virgil almost snarled.

He instantly regretted his tone. Logan recoiled as if he’d been stung, and he shrunk in on himself a bit. “I- you’re right, Virgil. I’m sorry.” He said quietly.

“It’s not entirely your fault, Specs.” Roman murmured. He looked up at the group. “I haven’t exactly been around, either.” He hesitated. Apologizing was always hard on the Ego. “We- no,  _ I’m  _ sorry, Patton.”

Patton shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”

“But it does, and it should.” Logan insisted. “The fact that Virgil was the only one who noticed... this, shows that Roman and I have been far too invested in our own dilemmas to see that something has clearly affected you negatively, though I’m sure Virgil helped.” Virgil gave a slight nod of appreciation to Logan.

Patton kept his dead stare locked on Logan. “Not really.”

Everyone froze, unable to process Patton’s offhanded insult. The silence that hung in the air was deafening, that is until Joan spoke up again.

“Ok,” Joan said slowly, as if still trying to choose the best words. “Well, we need to leave now if we don’t want to be late and, no offence, but you don’t look quite ready. I texted you when we were almost here. Where’s your phone?”

Virgil glanced at Logan, who simply shook his head. Virgil wasn’t sure where it was, either, and it was unlike Thomas to go long without it. Before he could think more on it, Patton spoke up again. “What does it matter? We don’t need it.”

“Why does it matter?” Thomas’ tone was laced with irritation. “I don’t need my phone. I said I didn’t forget the party, I just don’t need the phone.” Thomas said with a little too much force. 

Virgil and Logan exchanged a glance. Thomas’ phone was more or less his security blanket, especially at big social events like a party. He  _ absolutely  _ needed that phone. Roman glared at Deceit, who was staring intently at Patton, as if trying to figure him out.

Talyn, who had previously gone into the living room, came up behind Joan supportively. “Thomas, are you okay? You seem a little… stressed. If you need more time, we can wait a few minutes.” Joan nodded in silent agreement.

“Why do they care?” There was an underlying hint of menace hidden in his monotone voice, and everyone resisted the urge to shudder. This was  _ not  _ like Patton.

“Why do you care?” Thomas snapped. “I’m fine, let’s just go before we’re late.”

“Wha-, no!” Virgil realizes what Thomas is saying as it comes out of his mouth. He doesn’t have to see Joan and Talyn’s faces to know they are hurt. His breaths begin coming heavy, and yet he can’t get enough oxygen. He is vaguely aware that someone has come beside him, but thankfully isn’t touching him. As he struggles get a hold of reality once more a single thought makes his blood run cold: he has no idea what’s happening with Thomas anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so several notes here. One: I couldn’t figure out where was a good place to end this chapter without it being twice as long and taking double the amount of time to get done for you guys, so I hope this was an okay stopping point. Two: This chapter actually didn’t go the way I planned it to; sometimes the story writes itself, so I hope it all made sense. Three: I have no idea when Valerie’s birthday is, so if I’m way off, I apologize. And four: I wrote this one where the scene was jumping back and forth between Thomas’ world and the mindscape, but both events are supposed to be happening simultaneously, just more happens in the mindscape and in the same way we can think a thought or idea instantly, the sides can talk for minutes while no time or only a few seconds pass in real life. So I hope that wasn’t too confusing, and I’m sorry if I made it worse.  
> Next one should go up Friday or Saturday! Thank you for continuing to read!


	6. Reconciliation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton and Virgil recover from their... emotions, while Logan and the rest try to find the source of the problem.

Patton scanned the room carelessly. Virgil was curled in on himself, breathing hard. An anxiety attack, Patton figured. Logan was next to him, hovering close without touching, instructing him on breathing. Roman was looking from Deceit to Patton and back again, while Deceit was-

Wait.

Virgil!

“ _ Virgil _ !” Patton sprang to life again and jumped into action, rushing to kneel in front of his kiddo. “I’m so, so sorry, Virgil! I didn’t mean it, I-” Patton stopped as he realized Virgil was trying to speak.

“T-Thomas…” He rasped.

“Thomas is fine, he-” Patton cut himself off. What  _ was  _ Thomas doing? Patton took his attention away from Virgil for just a moment to focus on Thomas. He was in the backseat on Joan’s car, staring out the window. He was going to Valerie’s party and- oh, no! He had lied and yelled at Joan and Talyn! “Oh, oh!” Patton said more to himself as he realized everything he had just let happen. “Don’t worry, Virge. We’re going to fix this, right now.” Patton’s voice held renewed determination. Virgil, now beginning to come out of the attack, nodded.

Both Patton and Virgil, in perfect unison, whispered, “I’m sorry.”

At this Deceit frowned. He stepped towards the two that had just spoken and opened his mouth to speak, but Logan stepped in front of them to block him with a stern glare, and Roman pulled his sword and leveled it at Deceit’s chest. “Not so fast, you crafty Kaa.” Deceit gave him an unamused stare, but made no further move.

Joan and Talyn had just gotten out of the parked car and when Thomas didn’t initially follow decided to go on and head inside, but suddenly Thomas jumped out of the car and rushed over to them. “Wait!” Both of them turned around, a mix of caution and concern etched into their faces. Joan instinctively stepped partially in between Thomas and Talyn in a protective manner. “Guys, I’m so sorry! I should have never snapped like that. I didn’t mean it I swear!” The words tumbled out of his mouth so fast they were almost unintelligible, but Thomas made no move to stop or slow down, continuing without so much as taking a breath. “I lied back at the house; I did forget but this is still super important to me, and I didn’t want you guys or Valerie to think that it wasn’t, but this week’s just been so hard on me because I haven’t been sleeping because I’ve been having these really bad headaches, and-” Thomas suddenly ran out of air in his lungs and began gasping to fill them again.

Logan turned around to face the two still on the ground. “Virgil, you need to calm down a bit more.” Logan said gently. “You’re still upsetting Thomas.”

“Sorry.” He rasped.

“It’s quite alright.” Logan continued. “We just need to remind Thomas to breathe. Let’s run through the breathing exercise once more.”

As Thomas’ ragged breathing began to even out, Joan and Talyn exchanged a worried glance. “We forgive you, Thomas.” Talyn spoke up first. “But, after tonight’s over, we need to talk about this. We just want to make sure you’re okay.”

Joan nodded. “Dude, if it’s this bad, you might want to see a doctor about it.”

Thomas nodded slowly. “Okay, yeah.” He paused. “And… and sorry about the phone. You were right, I did need it.” 

Joan grinned. “I know. That’s why I grabbed it anyway.” Joan pulled Thomas’ phone out and tossed it to him.

Patton gasped. “Aww!! That’s so nice! Joan is the best.” Patton said affectionately.

Thomas smiled. “Thanks, Joan. You’re the best.” 

“I know.” With a quick wink, Joan disappeared inside.

Talyn followed, but stopped right at the door to look at Thomas. “You ready?”

Thomas took a deep breath. “Yeah. Yeah, let’s go.” He smiled and followed Talyn inside.

The entire group sitting in the mindscape took a collective sigh. Logan straightened his tie. They may have solved one problem, but they needed to get to the origin before more situations like this arose. “Alright. Now that that’s handled, we need to find the root of this...strange behavior.” He addressed the room.

Deceit rolled his eyes. “Astute observation, Logan. No wonder you’re considered the smart one.” Deceit drawled.

Roman glared at him. “Why are you still here?” He nearly growled.

“I’m  _ so  _ enjoying this lovely reunion just as much as you, Roman.” Deceit lied. “But we  _ don’t  _ have a serious problem on our hands.” He nodded towards Patton and Virgil, who were still sitting on the floor. Patton was gently comforting Virgil, who seemed to have recovered, but kept his eyes on the floor. Whether from shame, embarrassment, or something else, Logan wasn’t sure yet.

“Deceit is correct.” Those words felt odd in Logan’s mouth. “He’s a part of Thomas just as we are, and if something threatens Thomas, he has just as much reason as the rest of us to put a stop to it.” Roman didn’t stop glaring, but he did sheath his sword. Logan decided that would suffice, and returned to addressing Patton. “That was… incredibly uncharacteristic of you, Patton. Whatever caused it?”

Patton looked up at Logan, then Roman and Deceit. “Um, well kiddo, I’m not exactly sure.” Despite Patton trying to keep his tone chipper, Logan noted how he rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.

“Do you know when it first occurred?” Logan asked carefully.

Patton hung his head. “No.” He whispered. When he looked up again, a few tears silently rolled down his cheeks. He was most likely overwhelmed by everything that had occurred in the last few minutes, combined with the shame of his actions and embarrassment of not knowing the reason behind them. “I- I guess it was a few days ago, it hasn’t happened very much.” He sniffled. Virgil was now comforting him just as much as the other way around. 

“That’s okay, Padre.” Roman said softly. He hesitated before pressing more. “Do- do you know what  _ it  _ is?”

Patton smiled at Virgil as they both helped each other stand. “Not exactly. I can be doing anything, really, and then sometimes I just… stop… feeling.” Patton struggled with those last few words as if he didn’t know how to explain.

Roman and Logan exchanged concerned glances; considering Patton was essentially feelings personified, this couldn’t be good. Virgil nodded in affirmation; apparently that was what he seemed to think was happening as well. Virgil had spent the most time with Patton this week, but looked as lost as the rest of them. Logan turned to see Deceit staring at the floor, eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration. “Has anyone else been experiencing anything… similar, this past week or so?” Logan asked the room.

Roman silently shook his head. Deceit only scoffed before returning to his focused stare. Virgil shifted a bit uncomfortably. “No.” He simply put.

At this Deceit’s head snapped up, the pupil of his snake-eye thinning as he narrowed his eyes at Virgil. “Liar.”

Logan looked at Deceit in surprise. Not only had he accused Virgil of deception, which was unexpected in and of itself, but he done it so… so straightforwardly, which was rather unusual for him.

Virgil seemed surprised as well, but he quickly molded his expression into one of contempt. “I’m not lying. I haven’t had any lapses in emotion.”

“Haven’t you ever heard of lies of omission, Anxiety?” Deceit formed his statement into a question to get around the issue of talking backwards. Honestly, Logan appreciated it when he did; constantly interpreting his reverse meanings grew tiresome rather quickly. “You didn’t really think I wouldn’t notice, did you?”

The other three sides turned to Virgil in a silent question. The nervous side hesitates before ducking his head a bit. “If anything, I’ve felt more anxiety than normal this week because…” Virgil glanced at Deceit, who merely raised an eyebrow waiting for him to continue. “Because there’s something in my room. It keeps getting bigger, in fact, it’s almost to my bed now, and it’s kinda freaking me out to be honest.”

Logan’s curiosity skyrocketed. “What do you mean, some _ thing _ ? What does it look like?”

“It’s uh, I don’t know, a big black… shape. Covers one entire wall.” It wasn’t a very detailed description, but based on the few specifics Virgil gave, Logan wondered if this was the same mass that invaded his room. “Virgil, I have a theory on what this is, or rather, how to determine what this is. May we go to your room and see it?”

Logan noticed he visibly stiffened, but Patton put a reassuring hand on his arm. “I guess.” Virgil relented. As Virgil led the other four towards his room, Logan wasn't sure if it would be better or worse to find out that the same mass plaguing his room was also in Virgil's. He hated not knowing, not being certain of things, but in this instance the only way to find out was to head straight for the problem itself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so between finding all of the flaws and plot holes in my own writing, I've also had a really hard time knowing how to properly depict what I want each scene to convey. So I apologize that this one is shorter, but I'm trying to keep my promised upload schedule and my perfectionism led me to critiquing this one a LOT, so it was written and rewritten and edited quite a bit, and yet still not what I wanted. Hope you guys are still enjoying! Next one should go up Tuesday or Wednesday!


	7. Revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sides discover they've all been dealing with the same problem...

Roman shivered as Virgil opened the door to his room. He never liked staying in here long; he didn’t enjoy letting the others see him nervous and frazzled like Virgil’s room could so easily do to him. But something was clearly upsetting Virgil, and it was a prince’s duty to help those in need. A twinge of guilt hit the prince’s stomach as he thought of how much he had not been there for Virgil or Patton this week. He was never the most observant anyhow, that would fall to Virgil or Logan, but to not notice something this big that had been happening for a full week? How owed both Pat and Virgil a much more profound apology when all was said and done. And where _had_ Logan been all week? Roman had told the others he’d be in the Imagination again- even though he hadn’t told them it was in attempt to recover lost ideas, and that it had failed- but Logan nearly never spent that much time in his room. What was he _doing_?

They all quickly shuffled into Virgil’s room. No one needed to ask where this ‘thing’ Virgil had mentioned was- practically half the room was taken up by this daunting monstrosity. Roman inspected it for a few more moments before the realization hit him. With the exception of its size, this looked like the _exact_ same thing that was in his room. But… he was sure his foe was from the Imagination. It had to be. So what was it doing in Virgil’s room? And why was it _growing_?

“Hey… that looks like the same stuff as my ball!” Patton exclaimed.

The others all turned to look at him in surprise. “Ball?” Roman repeated.

“Yeah! I was getting dressed a few days ago, and when I when to grab my cardigan I saw this really cool ball on my dresser. It looked a lot like that,” The paternal side pointed at the wall as he continued. “Dark grey and black with pretty little swirlys inside.”

“Patton, ‘swirlys’ is not a-” Logan cut himself off. “Nevermind. You said you first saw this a few days ago?”

“Yeah. It was… oh! It was when Virgil and I had our movie day!” Patton paused as he thought about that. “Actually, I think when I touched the ball was the first time I felt weird, or I guess _didn’t_ feel.”

“Wait, you _touched it_??” Virgil tried not to raise his voice.

Patton looked sheepish. “Yeah.”

Logan sighed. “Patton, for future reference, please refrain from touching foreign objects.” The addressed side simply nodded. “But at least we now know the problems seem to be related, if nothing else by the the same source. Wouldn’t you agree, Virgil?”

The anxious side nodded. “Yeah, this showed up at the end of last week. My anxiety’s been amplified ever since.”

“So that would’ve been…” Logan trailed off, muttering incomprehensibly to himself.

Roman waited a moment, when Logan continued to stare through the floor, his patience quickly dwindled. They couldn’t be in Virge’s room much longer. “Hey, Sherlock? Care to fill us in?” Roman inquired.

Logan’s head snapped up. “Apologies. Let’s head to a more neutral space to discuss this.” With a quick nod of agreement from everyone else, they sunk out and reappeared in the commons of the mindscape. “This mass also appears to be the same substance in the bookshelf of my room-”

“What?” Roman exclaimed louder than he meant to. “So we’ve _all_ been dealing with the same thing and none of us knew?” If Roman had felt guilty before, he felt awful now. Even though Patton and Virgil hadn’t known what the problem was, they had at least tried to help each other, and Logan had probably been in his room looking for a solution, and Roman had… had just…

“Roman?” Logan’s curious voice broke through Roman’s critical thoughts. “How has this affected you as well? Is it in your room too?”

Roman took a deep breath. “Yeah. It showed up in my room last week, at first I thought it was a prank from Virgil or Remy, but then it touched my papers…”

“So it would seem it has affected you two,” Logan gestured to Patton and Virgil. “By affecting your emotions. It would be reasonable then, to assume it has been affecting the two of us,” He gestured between Roman and himself. “By disrupting our thinking patterns, which means-”

“No good ideas.” Roman finished quietly.

Logan nodded. “For you, it appears so. I regret to admit that in my case, since the mass first appeared in my bookshelf, my recollection of certain details had been… less than optimal. I am now unable to access about fifteen percent of Thomas’ memories.”

“And I haven’t been able to remember anything I came up with since I left the Imagination.” Roman ran a hand through his hair. “And we’ve been like this for how long? We’re only just now seeing the effects on Thomas, but if it gets any worse…” Roman trailed off again.

The room sat in uncomfortable silence as the realization of just how severe the situation was settled on everyone’s shoulders. Patton finally broke the silence. “Deceit?” He asked quietly. Roman looked up to see Patton staring at Deceit with a concern look on his face.

Deceit also looked up, staring at Patton for a moment before understanding the unspoken question. “I have _certainly_ seen this mass in the… other sides’ area. It makes sense, seeing as how we are _not_ in a different part of Thomas’ head.” The lying side rolled his eyes slightly in sarcasm.

“So you haven’t noticed any changes in your behavior?” Logan asked.

“Or the others?” Virgil added quickly.

Deceit hesitated. “I…” He kept his gaze locked on Virgil. “I _so_ enjoy spending time with the others, as you well know.” Virgil simply narrowed his eyes waiting for the rest. “But I _don’t_ believe they have been more… excitable recently. They may _not_ sense the change happening and see an opportunity to strike quickly approaching.”

“And you’re _warning_ us?” Roman asked in disbelief.

Deceit turned on Roman so sharply his cape nearly slapped Patton as he turned. “Believe it or not, I’m _not_ more than just Thomas’ Deception, and one of my driving purposes is _certainly not_ to be his self-preservation.” Deceit’s scowl relaxed slightly as he spoke his next words. “That’s part of the reason Anxiety and I work so well together.” Virgil shot him a withering glare. “And as much as I _don’t_ despise you all, I’d rather _not_ see Thomas at his best mentally with the four of you in charge than let the rest of the them run rampant.” Deceit spat defensively. Roman instinctively took a step back. Deceit let his usual snide expression crawl back onto his face. “And when we’re done here, I’ll _not_ go back to the near-subconscious and continue to keep the others under control, but mark my words, one of these days, Thomas will _not_ learn about me, and I’m _not_ going to start having some say in what he does.”

Roman’s upper lip curled back as he readied a stubborn retort, back it was cut off by Logan. “I’m going to return to my room to do some research and see if I can find any information on what this may be based on our symptoms. As of right now, there’s nothing I know of that matches these,” He grimaced before continuing. “But it is possible that information is currently inaccessible due to Thomas’ memory issues.” He pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose. “If the four of you would please keep a close eye on both Thomas and each other until the night is over. We don’t need a recurrence of what happened earlier, and we- well, the four of _us_ ,” Logan glanced at Deceit. “Will discuss this with Thomas directly when he returns home later.”

Logan looked at the group for a response, who all quickly nodded. “Be careful, Logan.” Patton added quickly.

“Patton, I have been in my room regularly ever since the appearance of this strange phenomena and it has yet to affect me and I assume will continue this way so long as I do not touch it.” He flinched as he realized how that last remark must have sounded. “But I will use caution. Thank you, Patton.” Patton nodded and smiled as Logan made his way to his room.

Roman stepped around Deceit to put his hand on Patton’s shoulder. Trying to ignore the fact that he would now be spending several more hours with the lying side, he put as much gusto into his voice and posture as he beamed at Patton and Virgil. “Now, let’s let Thomas have some fun, shall we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo! Sorry this one is a bit shorter, but it was surprisingly hard to get done! I ended up putting way more Deceit in there than I planned, and since Thomas does not know about him, I had to word certain things very carefully. I also wanted him to be kinda on their side, but only for the sake of keeping Thomas sane. Also, since he hasn't replaced Patton yet, they're not quite as peeved at him as they would be otherwise.  
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Next one should go up Friday or Saturday!


	8. Resolution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas and the sides discover the source of his problem

Despite everything going on, Thomas was able to mostly enjoy himself and keep everything positive on the outside. Deceit even had some opportunities to deflect a question or shrug off a concern, which Patton and Virgil carefully allowed as long as Thomas kept his promise to talk to Joan and Talyn later. When they dropped Thomas off at his house, he agreed to immediately go to bed and text them tomorrow. He hadn’t even made it to the stairs before three of his sides popped up.

“That was fun!” Patton clapped his hands excitedly.

“Yeah, let’s not do that again for like… a long time.” Virgil looked exhausted but beginning to relax again now back at home.

“Oh, lighten up, Thundercloud. You know you love seeing Thomas’ friends happy.” Roman teased good-naturedly.

“Guys… can we talk about the elephant in the room?” Thomas asked quietly. He knew they were avoiding it, and by the worried glances they exchanged, it must be worse than he thought.

“Uhh, well guess we might as well get it over with.” Virgil shrugged. “But we might need our residential nerd to explain, so…” Virgil looked over at Logan’s traditional spot. “Logan?”

The logical aspect rose up, a stack of papers in one arm as he clutched them against his chest and a pen in the other. His glasses were on the end of his nose as if he’d been staring down for awhile, and his hair was tousled and out of place. The look of exhaustion and frustration faded only slightly when he stood straight, realizing where he was. “Ah, Thomas. I-” Several of the papers slid off the bottom of the pile and scattered across the floor. Logan hastily bent down to pick them all up as Patton rushed over to help. Thomas couldn’t help be concerned at Logan’s appearance; he’d never seen this side of himself so unkept. “Thank you, Patton.” Logan said as Patton handed him the last paper. Patton nodded with a small smile and moved back over to his spot. “I take it we are discussing Thomas’ predicament?” Thomas and the others only nodded in response. Logan sighed. “Very well. Thomas, for nearly the past two weeks, we have noticed a change in the mindscape. The symptoms we’ve seen thus far have been mood swings,” he counted off on his fingers. “Increased anxiety, forgetfulness, and trouble focusing. Virgil also mentioned headaches and difficulty sleeping. I have been attempting to find a mental illness that aligns with these symptoms, but with your decreased memory, I have yet to find anything solid. I have a few theories, but none of them are definite and would only give Virgil more ‘what-ifs’ to dwell on. You could always look up these symptoms online, but the only way to guarantee accuracy would be to see a doctor.” 

Thomas nodded in agreement and looked at the others for any signs of objection. There were none. “Okay, I’ll schedule one in the morning.”

“Also, we may have only seen evidence of this in the last two weeks, but the issue may have developed prior to this and we only begun to see symptoms recently.”

“And with as fast as everything has happened, the sooner we can fix this the better.” Thomas added.

“Precisely.”

____________________________________

By some miracle, Thomas actually managed to get an appointment in with the doctor the next day. He spent part of his morning facetiming Joan and Talyn, apologizing repeatedly for his behavior and telling them he would see a doctor later today. While Thomas drove to his appointment and sat in the waiting room, the sides visited Patton’s and Roman’s room to investigate the mass. When they pulled Patton’s dresser away from the wall, they could clearly see that the “ball” Patton had found was merely a small lump of the stuff that had oozed out at the top of the dresser while the rest of the mass covered the entire back of his furniture.

While Thomas was waiting on the results of his several different tests to come back, the sides sat in the commons of the mindscape. Actually, Logan and Roman sat, Virgil paced, and Patton occupied himself with cooking in the kitchen. Logan flipped through his notes for the millionth time, checking for anything he might have missed. Roman twirled a small dagger in his left hand, wishing he could just stab the problem to make it go away. Suddenly Deceit appeared in the center of the room, right in Virgil’s path of pacing. Virgil jerked his head up from the intense glare he’d been giving the carpet and stumbled backwards slightly. Logan and Roman looked up quickly as well. Logan stood calmly. “Any changes we should be aware of?”

Deceit waved a hand at him dismissively, whether to imply there wasn’t anything worth mentioning or to deflect answering directly, no one was quite sure. “Have the results come back?” He simply asked.

“The doctor should return at any moment.” Logan replied, sitting back down. Deceit hummed thoughtfully. To the untrained eye, Deceit looked as nonchalant as ever, but Virgil saw the flicker of nervousness in his eyes.

Thomas looked up as the door opened to reveal a doctor he hadn’t spoken to yet. “You must be Mr. Sanders.” He said with a bright smile.

Thomas stood up to shake his hand. “That’s me! Nice to meet you, Dr…”

“Pecani.” He finished. Thomas smiled at the name. It sounded fun and friendly, which Patton was quick to voice to the others from the mindscape. “I’m a bit more experienced in this particular area.”

“This area?” Thomas repeated.

“Neurology. The nurse just gave me the results of your CAT scan, and- well, this is a bit of a CATastrophe.” Pecani grinned.

Thomas laughed. He was going to like this guy.

The doctor’s grin vanished almost instantly as he grew serious. “There’s no easy way to say this, but we have found in our tests some foreign tissue.” He sighed. “Thomas, you have a brain tumor.”

Roman and Patton gasped in unison, Virgil completely froze, Deceit pressed his lips into a thin  line and Logan nodded grimly in confirmation that this had indeed been one of his assumptions. 

The doctor pulled several images out of Thomas folder to show him. “The CT and MRI we took both confirm it, you can kind of see it here.” The doctor circled a small section of the image with the end of his pen. “It seems to have originated on the left side of your frontal lobe and- unfortunately- it is growing, spreading into the right side now.”

Thomas swallowed. “And... and this is the reason for my… odd behavior?”

“Well, I’m not your therapist, but it isn’t unheard of for brain tumors to affect one’s behavior. However, brain tumors affect each individual differently, even those with the same type of tumor.”

“Type?” Thomas repeated. “I didn’t know there were different types. What’s mine?”

“From what we can tell, you have a grade II Oligoastrocytoma.” Dr. Pecani tried not to laugh at Thomas’ perplexed look. “A grade II Oligoastrocytoma- the short version of it, anyway- means it is a low grade tumor.” Back in the mindscape, logan leaned in to listen intently. “They normally grow slower than grade III and are typically not made up of cancerous cells. However, it has the potential to become a grade III Oligoastrocytoma, which means it would grow faster and become more invasive. Based on where it is located in your brain, the symptoms you described and the images we can see, we are almost positive that is exactly what you have. It makes sense, given that most gliomas, specifically oligoastrocytomas, occur in young adults, so you’re not the first time we’ve handled a tumor like this.”

“So how do you ‘handle’ a tumor like this?” Thomas made air quotes with his fingers.

“Well, we remove it surgically. That’s standard procedure with these, and its the best way to guarantee we remove  _ all  _ of the tissue.” 

Virgil became stiff as a board, wrapping his arms around his midsection. Patton ran over and guided him to the couch, speaking encouraging words very softly and being very careful with his touch.

Thomas paled. “Brain surgery? Wow, that’s-that’s direct.”

“I know that sounds nerve-wracking, but the longer we wait, the more likely the tumor will progressively get worse and do more damage. I know it’s a tough choice to make, but I can tell you from my experience this is the best course of action.”

Logan, Roman and Patton exchanged glances with each other and nodded. Logan looked at Deceit, not so much for approval as to see if he had any other ideas. Deceit merely shrugged. Roman glanced over at Patton and Virgil. Virgil shuddered, took a shaky breath and met Roman’s eyes. He put a hand on top of Patton’s as a sign of gratitude and quickly nodded in agreement with the silent question. Thomas took a deep breath. “Okay, then. Let’s do it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this one took A LOT of work. I did a lot of research before I started writing this to make sure the tumor type I chose not only made sense with Thomas age and where it was located, etc., but also how it was affecting the sides and Thomas himself. This chapter specifically I tried to make sure I had enough info without boring everyone with a neurology lesson. This may not be 100% right, but I tried to be as accurate as possible. It also varies from person to person, so consistency is hard. The information I used was from these sites: https://www.abta.org/tumor_types/oligoastrocytoma/ https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=2519 https://www.thebraintumorcharity.org and https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org  
> Hope you're all enjoying! Expect the next one on Tuesday!


	9. Anticipation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late!!!

Thomas went ahead and uploaded his video before the day ended, but the rest of his plans were put on hold. He scheduled the surgery as early as they could get him in and until then, Thomas asked either Joan or Talyn or both to keep an eye on him whenever he left the house or engaged with other people. His doctor also recommended Thomas also learned to watch other people’s reaction to see if he had said something he shouldn’t have. Dr. Pecani also recommend taking some low dose medication to calm his anxiety since he had reported spikes of anxiousness and sudden emotional swings, but Thomas declined for the time being. He wouldn’t dare take that without asking Virgil and the others first, but since he couldn’t explain that to the doctors, he told them he didn’t think it was bad enough for that just yet.

The decision as far as what to tell everyone else was a much longer process. Deceit was all too quick to suggest lying and telling everyone he was just a little bit behind. “We wouldn’t want to worry them, after all.” He had purred. Virgil had been quick to point out how his close friends would feel if they found out he’d kept something so important from them, and that they’d want to help in any way that they could. Deceit retorted that making an announcement would cause some people to panic only worsening Thomas’ already nervous condition. “I’m only thinking of you, Virgil.” He crooned. Before Virgil could slug Deceit (with Roman right behind him ready to back him up), Patton stepped in between and offered a compromise. Logan agrees, pointing out that while his friends should most definitely be informed, it might be best to wait until after the surgery to release this news to the public. While most fans would be supportive, any additional worry would be detrimental and could cause Virgil more trouble than it’s worth. Eventually, they all agreed on that and Logan took the decision to Thomas, who heartily agreed and told the sides to take care of each other. Deceit left to keep an eye on the more dangerous sides while the others worked out some accountability with each other. Virgil would stay out of his room, even though he didn’t need to see the wall anymore to be extra nervous, being in there still heightened his already increased anxiety. Roman and Logan decide to stay with Virgil or Patton at all times, but mostly the four will just stay together as much as possible until Thomas’ surgery. Now, it was just a matter of waiting.

____________________________

Finally, the day of Thomas’ surgery arrived. Thomas had managed to get through with only a few minor incidents, all of which either Joan or Tayln had been there to step in and dissolve the situation. The four main sides were currently sitting in the living room with Thomas in nervous anticipation. The quiet was unnerving, but no one knew what to say. Suddenly a knock on the door startled the group. “That’s probably Joan.” Thomas announced, standing up. “Time to go.” He sighed.

The rest stood up as with him. “Good luck, Thomas.” Logan nodded solemnly before sinking out.

“We’ll be with you the whole time!” Patton chirped before following Logan.

“And soon we’ll have yet another victorious tale to tell!” Roman exclaimed with a sweeping gesture before joining the others in the mindscape.

“ _ If _ we’re victorious.” Virgil muttered to himself, staring at the floor before glancing at Thomas guiltily.“Sorry. Force of habit.”

Thomas smiled. “We’re gonna be fine, Virge.” He gave the nervous side an encouraging look, who returned it with his own small smirk before sinking out. 

Thomas took a deep breath before walking over to open the door. Joan stood on the other side with a nervous smile. “You ready?”

Thomas nodded. “As I’ll ever be.”

While Joan drove, Thomas texted the few close friends he had informed of the situation a quick update and a reminder that he was about to go in for the surgery. He almost immediately got texts back from Valerie, Terrance, and Dominic wishing him luck. Right before they arrived, Thomas called his family and agreed when his mother made him promise to text her after he was out and tell her how it had gone. He hung up just as Joan pulled in and parked the car.

Once all of the preparations were done, Thomas was led to a room where he sat back and waited for the nurse to insert the IV. He took a deep breath, calming himself and hoping that it helped his all of his sides be calm as well. Inside the mindscape, the four sides sat closely together on the couch in the commons, with Logan and Virgil on the ends so they could get some space if needed. The anticipation was rough, but they all felt better than they had in awhile, just being together. Deceit suddenly popped into the middle of the room, giving the other four an odd look as if what they were doing was absurd.

“How’s everything, Deceit?” Patton asked softly.

Deceit’s condescending smirk returned and he pulled on his gloves. “The others are  _ not  _ aware of what’s happening, and are  _ not  _ a bit… restless. However, I do  _ not  _ still have a firm grip on the situation and am easily keeping them in check… for now.” He muttered the last bit under his breath, but the others still heard it. 

Virgil stiffened at the implication. Roman noticed and placed a hand on his knee gently before giving Deceit a hard stare. “Thomas will be  _ fine _ .” His firm voice was directed at Deceit, but he knew Virgil needed to hear it too.

“And should the situation arise, we are more than capable of handling the others.” Logan said simply.

Deceit shrugged with a nonchalant smile. “If you say so.” Despite his composure, Virgil sees that apprehension in his eyes again. He knows as well as the others there’s a chance Thomas doesn’t wake up at all, or if he does that everything will be much worse.

Patton must have seen it too. “Do you want to sit with us?” He asked Deceit, ignoring the shocked looks he gets from Roman and Virgil and the mild eyebrow raise Logan gives him.

At first Deceit looked appalled. Then he scoffed. “Yes, because I  _ so  _ need your comfort and affection, Morality. I  _ can’t  _ handle myself and I  _ so want  _ your coddling.” He closed his eyes and shook his head with a disgusted expression. Roman glared and Virgil readied himself to defend Patton, when he realized Patton had climbed out of their little pile and was headed for Deceit. Logan watched with a slightly amused look. “I’d  _ not  _ sooner be caught dead than-” Deceit was cut off with a little yelp as Patton grabbed his upper arm, dragged him over to the couch and plopped him down between himself and Logan, who scooted over to make room. The sputters of protests went unheard, and when Patton got comfortable on the couch, Deceit looked over at the other three in confusion.

Roman shrugged. “It’s a life or death situation, what’d you  _ expect  _ the embodiment of Morality to do?”

Deceit sighed. “I’m staying.” He put a hand to his forehead in frustration before sinking out.

“Aww.” Patton whined.

“He’s not an affectionate side, Patton.” Logan explained, sliding a little bit closer to fill the gap between him and the emotional side.

“Yeah, I guess.” Patton pouted slightly.

“Come on, Padre! Let’s keep the mood light! Thomas will be out any minute now, and he ought to go to sleep happy.”

Patton beamed. “You’re right, Roman! I’m just glad the four of us are together again, it feels good.”

The nurse gave Thomas his IV with the anesthetic while the Sides held Patton securely; he did not like needles. Thomas quickly began to lose consciousness as the sides relaxed on the couch together in comfortable silence.

That silence was quickly interrupted by someone bursting into the room from the hallway, panting hard and out of breath. Their hair was down in their face, but Virgil and Roman instantly recognized the black leather jacket.

“Remy!?!” Virgil gasped. “Where have you  _ been _ ?”

The sleeping function looked up at the others, catching his breath and pushing his hair back. “ _ Gurl _ , you did  _ not  _ just  take that tone with me.” He sassed. “If you had  _ any  _ idea what I’ve been through-” He raised a finger, then pointed it down the hall. “There’s some- some  _ black thing _ right by the subconscious that grabbed my foot. It wouldn’t let go of me,  _ ruined  _ my favorite jacket, and it TOOK MY STARBUCKS!!” He nearly screeched. “I can’t- like I can’t even, right now. I’m done. I’m  _ so  _ done right now.”

The other four exchanged glances before bursting out in laughter, except for Logan of course, who merely chuckled. 

“Come here, my fabulous friend,” Roman waved him over. “I’ve got you covered.” Roman summoned a starbucks drink in his hand and held it out. Remy let out a weird noise of joy and was at Roman’s side in an instant, grabbing the drink and throwing himself down on the couch dramatically next to them, which elicited another chorus of laughs from the others.

“Good to have you back, Rem.” Virgil snickered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late, but we're almost there!! This story is nearing the end, I can't wait! (sorry for making you guys have to, though)


	10. Normalcy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas awakens from surgery and awaits his fate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter! (This one's a bit shorter, sorry.) Happy labor day weekend, everyone!

Thomas slowly opened his eyes to find himself in another room in the hospital. He squinted at the bright lights, looking around for anything familiar. He turned his head to see Valerie sitting in a chair next to him with a book in hand. “Valerie?” Thomas barely spoke. He still felt groggy, like he didn’t have full control of his muscles yet.

Valerie looked up. “Hey, Thomas.” She said softly as she set the book down to move towards him. “How do you feel?”

Thomas hummed. “Tired.”

Valerie laughed softly. “That makes sense. Joan just left to use the bathroom, and Talyn’s on the way here now. The surgery went as best as it could, but you’ll need to stay here for a few days for recovery while they monitor you. When they do release you, someone will have to stay with you the for a little longer, too. It’s just precautionary; we want to make sure you recover the best you can.”

Thomas nodded slowly. Valerie’s phone made a small ding, and she moved over to check it. “Talyn’s here with Leo and Terrence. If you’re alright, I’m going to go get them from the lobby.” 

Thomas nodded, a little more sure of his movements this time. “Yeah, yeah I’ll be fine. Go ahead.”

Valerie flashed him a quick smile and slipped out to retrieve his friends. Thomas double checked his room before quickly summoning his sides, knowing he only had a minute. Three sides immediately rose up and Virgil appeared, leaning up against the wall. All of them had varying levels of smiles plastered to their faces. Thomas grinned. “So I take it you all know?”

Patton clapped his hand together. “Yes! I’m so happy for you, kiddo! I knew it would all work out!”

“Well, I guess it could’ve gone worse.” Virgil shrugged, but he’s still smirking and Thomas hasn’t seen him so relaxed in a long time.

“And at the standard rate of recovery for a procedure like this, you should be home in just a few days and with optimal rest, you could be back to your typical routine by the end of next week. With some caution, of course.” Logan added.

“What about you guys?” Thomas asked. “How’s the mindscape?”

“The evil gelatinous beast has been vanquished! Roman boomed. “It has been felled and is now banished from all of our rooms in your mind, Thomas. Patton’s not had another apathetic episode, Virgil’s been _slightly_ less angsty,” Virgil shot him a playful glare. “Logan has your memories back, and De-” Roman hesitated, and the others gave him a warning look. “And  _ during  _ all of this, I came up with a  _ fantastic  _ new idea for a video! What if we create this character that’s based off of your doctor, except instead he's a therapist, and the whole premise of the video is what if, instead of using normal  _ boring  _ methods to help his clients, he-”

“That’s great, Roman, but hold that thought for a little bit. I want to just focus on my friends and getting better today.”

“Of course, Thomas.” Roman bowed dramatically as he sunk out.

“We will leave you to it.” Logan smiled fondly as he pushed his glasses back in place and sunk out as well.

“Be sure to apologize for worrying them.” Virgil said pointedly.

“I’m sure they understand.” Thomas assured him as he disappeared from sight.

“And tell them how important they are to you!” Patton bounced up and down.

Thomas beamed. “I will.” Patton quickly followed the others, leaving Thomas alone for just a minute before his friends came through the door. “Hey everybody.”

____________________________________

Thomas just hit post on a tweet he’d typed up explaining his situation and saying that there would be a delay on his upcoming videos since he hadn’t been able to work on them yet. The Fanders were usually very understanding, but he still hated making them wait longer for something he’d promised. After three days, Thomas had been released from the hospital and for the last several days, Joan and Talyn continued to check on him regularly and stay with him for longer than was normal even for them. He appreciated the support all of his friends had been giving and how understanding they were. After just a minute or two of reading responses to his tweet, he realized the Fanders were no different; supportive and understanding as always. When Joan and Talyn went home for the day, Thomas summoned the sides once more. “Hey, guys?”

“Heya, kiddo!” 

Logan and Roman rose up silently, but Virgil's words spilled out quickly. “What happened? Are you hurt? Did something go wrong, I  _ knew  _ something would go wrong-”

“Woah, easy Virge.” Thomas put his hands up to stop the rambling side. “Nothing's wrong.” 

Virgil stiffened, then relaxed. “Oh.” He fumbled with the Hem of his sleeve. “It's just that… you haven't really talked to us since the hospital, so I figured-”

“Virgil, I'm going to stop you right there.” Patton smiled at him. “I think the reason Thomas wants to talk to us is  _ because _ he hasn't gotten to since the hospital, is that right?” He looked to Thomas for confirmation.

Thomas nodded heartily. “Yeah, with Joan and Talyn being here to help so much, I thought since tonight it's just me, maybe I could have a movie night alone with you guys!”

Logan quirked an eyebrow. “You do realize 'alone’ means 'without anyone else’, right Thomas?”

Thomas grinned. “You know what I mean.”

“Of course!” Roman threw his hands in the air. “It would be fantastic to have another Disney movie marathon!”

“He didn't say  _ Disney _ movie marathon, Princey.” Virgil rolled his eyes.

“Well no, but I'm sure that's what he meant!” Without thinking, Roman took a step towards Virgil.

“There are  _ other  _ movies out there besides Disney.” He took a step towards the prince.

“Not any worth watching!” 

Patton jumped between the two of them. “How about we meet in the middle and binge Steven Universe??”

Both glanced at the father figure, then glared back at each other, although with much less malice than before.

“Fine.”

“Whatever.”

A stiff sigh escaped the logical aspect who'd been silent up to this point. “Oh. Uh, I forgot how you feel about cartoons, Logan.”

He waved a hand. “It's quite alright, Patton. If it will end the incessant bickering, I'm more than willing to endure.”

Thomas stepped in. “Maybe something a little more reasonable, like Voltron? Or Avatar?” 

He grinned hopefully at his personified logic, who smiled gratefully back. “Avatar would be satisfactory.”

“Yay!” Patton squealed, and even Roman and Virgil seemed to lighten up at the idea that they had all compromised to make each other feel included.

Thomas quickly started up the first episode and the five cuddled on the couch together, Logan and Virgil on the ends just like before. Within a few episodes, they had all fallen asleep together, reveling in the sense of normalcy returned to their life and simply enjoying each other's company.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah! So that's my first ever fan fic! Hope you guys enjoyed! (Sorry the ending was kind of rushed, but my schedule is only getting more intense, so I needed to wrap it up.) It was something I thought up one day and I just wanted to get on paper, so to speak, so it's a bit rough, but I had fun writing it!  
> Let me know if you find any mistakes or what you thought or if you have any prompts/ideas I might (emphasis on might!) keep writing these! Thanks for reading!!!

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first ever fanfic! I couldn't get this idea out of my head, so I decided to write it all out! I'm going to try and upload one chapter every few days, but my schedule's a bit hectic, so no guarantees. Sorry :)  
> Also, thoughts, opinions, and constructive crit are all welcome!


End file.
